Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) was planning to meet with Sharp Corp’s board at its headquarters yesterday and make his case for a raised offer to take control of the Japanese electronics maker for about ￥660 billion (US$5.4 billion), according to a person familiar with the matter.
The offer is designed to beat out an alternative deal with a Japanese government fund and would include about ￥390 billion to buy new shares for a controlling stake, said the person, who could not be identified because the information is not public.
About ￥225 billion would be used to buy preferred stock in Sharp, primarily from the company’s two major banks, and another ￥45 billion would be used to buy land from the company.
Sharp has been discussing competing bailout plans with Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), and the Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ). INCJ might invest about ￥300 billion in Sharp, people familiar with the matter have said.
Though the Taiwanese company is offering more money, Sharp is said to be leaning toward a deal with INCJ, which would keep its technology within Japan and allow it to cooperate more closely with domestic companies, according to sources.
Sharp is continuing talks with companies on the restructuring of its LCD business, company spokesman Yoshifumi Seki said by telephone yesterday, without identifying the participants.
He declined to comment on details of the negotiations.
Sharp’s US depositary receipt rose as much as 13.4 percent to US$1.27 and closed at US$1.25 on Friday.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
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